Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
Police officer fitness, diet, lifestyle and its relationship to duty
performance and injury
James E. Guffey
National University
James G. Larson
National University
James Lasley
California State University, Fullerton
ABSTRACT
The United States military expects a certain level of fitness from their soldiers, sailors,
airmen, and marines. To insure a level of expected fitness, the U.S. military plans regular
exercise into most work days. Some civilian occupations also expect their employees to be fit,
but they primarily rely tacitly on the self-motivation of the individual employees to do this.
Police officers and firefighters are examples. This paper examines the relationship among police
officer fitness, diet, and lifestyle and its impact on duty performance and injury to determine if
tacit reliance on individual officers is sufficient.
Keywords: police officers, fitness, diet, lifestyle, performance, injury
Copyright statement: Authors retain the copyright to the manuscripts published in AABRI
journals. Please see the AABRI Copyright Policy at http://www.aabri.com/copyright.html.
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Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
INTRODUCTION
Rationale for the Study
It would seem self-evident that an occupation such as policing would demand that police
officers stay fit as a part of the job requirements. Police officers are engaged in physical
challenges on a regular basis. For example, they chase fleeing suspects; they climb over fences
and onto roof tops; they subdue resisting arrestees; and they lift heavy objects such as recovered
stolen property. These often daily job requirements require strength and endurance that is
obtained by a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Adding to this physical challenge
is the fact that officers must carry bulky items of additional weight on a pistol belt: handgun,
baton, mace, handcuffs, and Taser. Therefore, it would seem appropriate that police and sheriff
departments would emphasize fitness by providing gym memberships to officers as an incentive,
or that police officers would be self-motivated and place emphasis on fitness and reserve offduty time to maintain fitness. Fitness/wellness of police officers has been the focus on many
studies; nevertheless, the authors felt it needed attention once again. Fitness is an important and
vital factor for the success of policing, and this paper looks at a sample of police officers to see
the results.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The literature on police officer fitness is significant so the authors have identified specific
areas to cover so that the reader has understanding of the issues involved in police officer fitness
and wellness. These topic areas are (a) selected examples of both international and United States
efforts toward fitness, (b) police union resistance, (c) termination of police officers, and (d)
comparative studies.
Selected Examples of Police Fitness Efforts Internationally
Policing is an important function of local and national governments throughout the world.
All nations strive to provide their citizens with the most effective policing within the constraints
of budgets and legal mandates. Police officer fitness has been an issue for police departments as
far back as the Sir Robert Peel’s Bobbies and the London Metropolitan Police Department which
was established in 1829 by a Parliamentary act (Summerscale, 2008). (CITE)
Police officer fitness is not restricted to United States police departments. “Senior
Superintendent Lindela Mashigo of the Pretoria, South Africa Police Department recently started
running, inspired by his police commissioner, Bheki Cele, who he describes as a “fitness
fanatic.” Cele launched the SA Police Service (SAPS) fitness and wellness programme, which
hopes to encourage the country’s tubby police officers to fight the flab by keeping physically fit
through exercise and by following a healthy diet” (Bega, 2010, p. 4).
Superintendent Brett Pointing of the Queensland, Australia Police Department boasts of
his completion of the FBI National Academy’s Yellow Brick Road—a notoriously difficult US
Marine Corp obstacle course that is considered one of the toughest in existence. “The higher
level of fitness helps the police executive cope with their workload, and we learned about
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Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
nutrition, diet and the metabolism,”(Wilson, 2005, p.48) said a leaner police officer who has now
become a 10 km runner and will compete in this year’s Gold Coast Marathon.
The London Metropolitan Police, the oldest police department in the world, has become
exceptionally tough on unhealthy police officers. Fat or unhealthy police officers could be
forced to resign. One idea is to have officers take a fitness test every 3 years. If they fail, they
would be placed on unpaid administrative leave until they increase fitness levels and pass the
fitness test and change their lifestyle. If there were still no sign of improvement, they could be
forced to resign. “Figures released by the London Metropolitan Police Department in early 2003
show that the London Metropolitan Police take nearly twice the number of sick days as the
average City of London private sector worker. This results in nearly 1.5 million police working
days being lost annually” (Taylor, 2003, p. 34).
In Ontario Province, Canada, all police officers must meet annual fitness standards.
Owen Sound City police constable, Brian Dunham, stated, “You don’t have to be a runner to be a
police officer, but if you’re not in fairly good shape you run a real risk of hurting yourself and
maybe having a heart attack” (Algie, 2001, p. A3).
The National Police of one Asian country set up a six-month fitness campaign for its
113,000 members. “The most notable feature of the campaign was to reduce the waistline of
police officers to a maximum of 36 inches. Twice per week the officers were required to do
aerobic exercises, timed jogs, push-ups and pull-ups. There were regular command-sponsored
mass exercises and ballroom dancing” (Siruno, 2009, p. 54).
Selected Examples of Police Fitness Efforts in the United States
Dr. Kota Reddy, a cardiologist in Houston, Texas, offers free cardiac screenings to police
officers in the Sugar Land and Missouri City public safety departments. An interventional
cardiologist, Reddy has long been aware that heart disease is rampant in public safety
occupations. “Stress, poor diets and work environments that mix sedentary hours with sudden
intense physical activity make police officers significantly more vulnerable. He cites studies that
show heart disease causes 45 percent of on-duty firefighter deaths and 22 percent of police
officer deaths” (Hastings, 2008, p. 9).
Quire and Blount’s 1990 study of 380 sworn police officers of the St. Petersburg, Florida
Police Department found that older officers were at greater risk of coronary heart disease than
younger officers. Nevertheless, based on Center for Disease Control standards, St. Petersburg
police officers were at very low risk levels and had significantly reduced their risk level over a
period of 5 years from 1981-1985. This reduction was attributed to a concentrated effort on the
part of the department, and in particular complete physical examinations, that contained the
cholesterol screen and the resultant discussion of risk profiles, and a fitness program that
contained exercise and diet recommendations.
Diet and exercise must go together. The combination maximizes the level of fitness and
stored energy in one’s body. Mark Farmer is a Lieutenant with the Aiken, South Carolina Public
Safety Department. He is also a certified physical fitness coordinator through the Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Farmer discusses the need for police officers to stay in
shape by engaging in regular exercises and maintaining a balanced nutrition and diet by having
the right amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. “Physical exercise and diet must be done
together. Think of it as a positive and negative on a battery. If one end is not connected, you
have no power.” (Farmer, 2004, p. 34). He states there are a total of 25 amino acids which, when
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Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
put together in different combinations, make different kinds of protein that you need to form
your cells and organs. Eight of these amino acids are called essential—and from these your body
can make the remaining 17. These proteins can be found in chicken, tuna, black beans, fish, and
red meat. He admonishes against frying! Frying not only takes away a large amount of the good
stuff, but it also adds saturated fat” (Farmer, p. 35).
Saturated fat is to be avoided as much as possible in one’s diet. According to the Centers
for Disease Control, “diets high in saturated fat have been linked to chronic disease, specifically,
coronary heart disease. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 recommend consuming less
than 10% of daily calories as saturated fat. In general, saturated fat can be found in the following
foods: high-fat cheeses, high-fat cuts of meat, whole-fat milk and cream, butter, ice cream and
ice cream products, and palm and coconut oils.” (Centers for Disease Control, p. 1)
Litigation, Termination of Police Officers, and Police Union Resistance
The legality of terminating police officers based on departmental fitness standards hinges
on the court’s interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits
employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. With regard
to fitness standards, one issue of concern has been holding female officers to the same standard
as male officers. In the case of Lanning v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
1998 WL 341605 (E.D.Pa., 1998), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania handed down a decision in 1998.
In 1991, as a part of an effort to upgrade its 234 officer police force, the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) which operates a commuter rail system in
Philadelphia and its suburbs, instituted a series of physical fitness requirements for both on-board
and potential police officers. Among these was a requirement that applicants complete a 1.5 mile
run in 12 minutes. Failure to meet this standard disqualified an applicant from employment as a
police officer (Brooks, 2012, p.28).
In 1997, five women brought suit against SEPTA because they had failed to meet the above
standard. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found in favor of
SEPTA because SEPTA was able to show that a certain aerobic capacity was necessary for the
job of SEPTA police officer. SEPTA provided data wherein police officers had been unable to
capture suspects in short pursuits, and this had led to escapes by felons thus endangering the
public.
In 2007, a Bellevue, Washington police officer was fired for violating a part of a
department policy that requires officers to maintain a high level of physical conditioning through
regular exercise and proper diet. Chris Parent, 51, fought for his job in a civil service
commission hearing. Parent was fired on November 28, 2007 for violating a policy that reads;
“Police officers are called upon to perform a variety of tasks that require physical endurance and
agility. This dictates that officers maintain a high level of physical, mental and emotional
condition, which can only be acquired through regular exercise, proper diet and utilizing time”
(Palmer and Kuiper, 2008, p.2).
More recently, three Suquamish, Washington police officers were fired in April, 2011
following the department’s high-stakes fitness program. The department’s officers are expected
to pass a yearly fitness test of push-ups, sit-ups, a 300-meter dash, and a 1.5 mile run—the later
two are timed events (Farley, 2011).
Police unions have generally resisted attempts by police and city administrators to
implement physical fitness written policies and physical fitness tests for sworn police officers.
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The unions’ efforts have generally been successful in larger departments with strong police
unions. The future of union resistance is uncertain as it will most likely depend of the direct of
litigation—particularly by the United States Supreme Court which has so far refused to hear
cases on this issue.
Comparative Studies
The following are five studies which are similar to the authors’ study.
Study #1. The most comprehensive 20th Century study of police officer fitness was
conducted by the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research (CIAR) between 1983 and 1993 that
randomly sampled approximately 1,700 officers from different law enforcement agencies across
the country (Quigley, 2008). This study found that officers’ average fitness levels were below
normal in the areas of aerobic fitness, body fat, and abdominal strength. Fitness levels were
average in upper body strength and low back flexibility. Overall fitness of law enforcement
officers in most areas of the US was less than that of 50 percent of Americans during this time
period (Quigley).
As a result of the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research work, police officers can apply
to attend the Law Enforcement Fitness Specialist Course. This is a 4.5 day course designed
specifically for the law enforcement and public safety professional who is involved in
developing and delivering physical fitness programs (The Cooper Institute, 2001).
Study #2. G. Gregory Tooker and David Cashwell (2007) of the Commission on
Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) completed a pilot study begun by Tooker
and Smith (2005) on behalf of the National League of Cities local government self-insurance
organizations. The authors and CALEA sought participation in their study from several states;
however, only the State of North Carolina participated. The pilot study was conducted in seven
North Carolina agencies and subsequently funding was provided for the statewide study in 2005.
Despite the lack of participation on a larger scale, the findings were encouraging. Several
participants were able to stop taking medication for hypertension and diabetes because of weight
reduction they achieved; two officers stopped smoking; and significant run time and overall body
strength improvements were recorded (p. 1).
Study #3. Bullock (2007) examined worker compensation claims of police officers
covered by the Virginia Municipal Group Self Insurance Association (VMGSIA). He sought to
determine what activities are causing the most frequent and severe injuries to police officers.
Most notable among Bullock’s findings is that “there is a strong correlation between an officer’s
fitness/health level and his/her performance at an ideal level both on and off the streets.” (p. 1).
Bullock also noted that “police officers live two to five years post-retirement on average.
This can be attributed to a lack of personal and agency fitness and wellness programs.” (p. 1).
Study #4. Nabeel, Baker, McGrail and Flottemesh (2007) explored the correlation
between physical activity, fitness, and injury by surveying a cross section of police officers in the
Minneapolis Police Department. Specifically officers were asked about their level of fitness,
physical activity, and prevalence of injury and chronic pain within a year of the study period.
The authors found that officers with the highest self-reported fitness levels were less likely to
experience sprains, back pain, and chronic pain than those who considered themselves less fit.
Study #5. Boyce and Hiatt (1992) conducted a case study of a fitness/wellness program
in a large metropolitan police department in the Southeastern United States. At the time of their
study, this department had an exemplary 11-year old fitness/wellness program and thus the
choice of this city for their study.
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Recruits were given fitness classes that were structured to help improve the student’s
cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and body
composition. These classes met 3-5 times per week. When officers graduated from the police
academy and entered their 52-week field probationary period, the structured fitness sessions
ended, but officers were encouraged to continue a fitness program of their own choosing. The
incentive to continue was the use of annual (under 45 years) and bi-annual (45+) medical exam
results in promotion, reclassification, reassignment, and granted education leave (Boyce & Hiatt,
1992).
The findings were not encouraging for unsupervised, unstructured, voluntary fitness
sessions by individual officers. Recruits showed reductions in 1.5 mile run times throughout the
academy; however, these times increased significantly between graduation from the academy
and the end of the probationary period. The same was true for flexibility (sit and reach test),
endurance (sit-ups), and strength (bench press); all decreased. Finally, and particularly
significant, body fat decreased during the police academy period but increased during the 52week probation and continued to increase when measured at 3 years of employment (Boyce &
Hiatt).
Research Hypotheses
There are three hypotheses being tested in this study. Hypothesis #1: There is a
correlation between aerobic and anaerobic exercise and the incidence of on-duty injury among
police officers. Hypothesis #2: There is a correlation between diet and on-duty injury.
Hypothesis #3: There is a correlation between aerobic and anaerobic exercise and the number of
injury days off + sick days taken over a 5-year period.
Prior to setting out on this project, the authors reviewed the literature on police officer
fitness/wellness as we were interested in this topic as was the California Commission on Peace
Officers’ Standards and Training (California POST). There had not been any significant studies
of this topic either in California or the United States since the CALEA study identified above
(Study #2). We felt it was an important area to address again, if for no other reason, to give this
issue visibility once again.
METHODOLOGY
The data obtained for this study were received through a questionnaire. The questionnaire
was designed to obtain data about officer fitness, diet, and lifestyle and the number of on-duty
injuries, injury leave, and sick leave taken over a 5-year period. The questionnaires were
distributed in June, 2011 and all questionnaires were received by September 2011. The
questionnaires asked the officers to go back in time 5 years from the date of the receipt of the
questionnaire (on/about June 2006) and fill out the questionnaire based on these 5 years (June,
2006-June, 2011). The limitations to this questionnaire method are that it relied on the officers’
memories of this period, and the data are all self-report with the attendant issues with self-report
data that is not cross-validated. Data were gathered on the following variables:
1. Gender
2. Age
3. Years of Law Enforcement Experience
4. Ethnicity
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5. Education
6. Height
7. Weight
8. Body fat
9. Shift most often worked
10. Diet
11. Lifestyle
12. Cigarette smoker or not
13. Times injured over a 5-year period
14. Injury seriousness (minor: 2 days or less injury leave; substantial: 1 week injury
leave; and serious: more than 1 week injury leave)
15. Injury leave over a 5 year period
16. Sick leave over a 5 year period
17. Weekly hours of aerobic and anaerobic exercise
Critical Independent and Dependent Variables
The critical independent and dependent variables are defined as those that are the focus of
the three hypotheses identified above.
Independent Variables:
1. Aerobic and/or Anaerobic Exercise of 5+ hours per week
2. Strict Diet (Defined as consumption of 2,500 calories per day for males and 2.200
calories per day for females).
Dependent Variables:
1. Times injured over the previous 5-year period
2. Injury leave over the previous 5-year period
3. Sick leave over the previous 5-year period
4. Injury seriousness over the previous 5-year period
5. Weight
The questionnaire was handed out to full-time, sworn police officers working in the
patrol division during roll-call at eight police departments. Seven of these departments were
located in California; the eighth department was the Houston, Texas Police Department. The
seven California departments were chosen because the authors had internal contacts that made
access to these departments assured. These seven departments were the Sacramento Police
Department, the Sacramento Sheriff Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, the San
Diego Police Department, the San Diego Sheriff Department, the Chula Vista Police
Department, and the National City Police Department. The questionnaire was also mailed to
several departments outside of California, but the only non-California department that agreed to
participate was the Houston, Texas Police Department. The questionnaire was distributed by an
internal police representative in all eight departments who asked the patrol officers to participate
only if they wanted to participate. Participating officers were read instructions which included
that the officers should not identify themselves in any manner on the questionnaire. A total of
217 completed questionnaires were returned as indicated in Table 1 (Appendix A).
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FINDINGS/RESULTS
Sample
One hundred seventy-three male officers participated in the study (79.7%), and 44 female
officers (20.3%). The ethnic breakdown was 137 White officers (63.1%), 16 Black officers
(7.4%), 36 Hispanic officers (16.6%), 12 Asian officers (5.5%), and 16 officers who identified
themselves as “Other” (7.4%).
Table 2 as indicated in Table 2 (Appendix A) demonstrates that the sample of 217
officers was very well educated. The mean years of education was almost 15 which is just 1 year
less than a 4-year college degree. The range of education was from high school graduate to postgraduate studies beyond a master’s degree. The sample of 217 officers was clearly what one
would consider to be seasoned officers. The mean was 14.23 years, and the range was 5 years to
32 years experience.
The mean height of the male officers was 5’10.1 inches and the mean weight of the male
officers was 202.66 pounds. The mean height of the female officers was 5’5.3 inches and the
mean weight of the female officers was 139.5 pounds. According to the Center for Disease
Control’s National Center for Health Statistics, the mean height of adult male Americans is 5’9.5
inches and the mean weight of adult males is 191 pounds. The mean height of adult females is
5’4” and the mean weight of adult females is 164.3 pounds. The conclusion to be drawn from
these data is that the male officers slightly exceeded the national averages in both height and
weight; whereas, the female officers exceeded the height averages, but were well below the
national female weight average.
The combined mean number of hours per week for both aerobic and anaerobic exercise
for all 217 officers was 4.6 hours. This includes the officers who indicated they worked out
fewer than a combined 5 hours per week and the officers who indicated they did not work out.
The range of combined work out hours was 0 to 16 hours per week.
Table 3 as indicated in Table 3 (Appendix A) shows the percentage of responding
officers who indicated they spent 5 or more hours per week participating in aerobic, anaerobic,
or a combination of both, were injured on duty, maintained a strict caloric diet (defined as 2500
calories per day for males and 2200 calories per day for females), and whose agency provided a
paid fitness center membership.
Table 3 shows that slightly more than 50% of the officers maintained a fitness program of
5+ hours per week. About one-third were injured on duty. Slightly over one-quarter adhered to
a strict diet as defined by the American Medical Association and 41% of surveyed officers
indicated that their agency provided them with a paid fitness center membership or gave them
on-duty time to conduct a fitness program. In addition, over the last 5 years, the mean number of
days lost from work of the 71 officers who indicated they had been injured in the line of duty
was 10.159 days.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2009) compiled data on “sick leave usage by major
industry groups.” The major industry categories are (1) financial activities, (2) information
industry, (3) trade, transportation, and utilities, (4) professional and business services, (5) the
leisure and hospitality industry, and (6) the construction industry. Data from 2009 indicate that
industries 1-4 took an average of 4 days sick leave per year, but industries 6 and 7 took only an
average of 2 days per year. Comparing these data with our study sample (10.159 days over 5
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Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
years) indicates that the officers were on the lower end of the sick/injury leave days taken among
national industries.
Table 4 as indicated in Table 4 (Appendix A) is quite interesting because it is counterintuitive to the data. It indicates that over 95% of the 217 surveyed officers felt that fitness was
either extremely or very important. Thus, even many of the officers who indicated that they did
not work out responded that being fit was either extremely important or very important. This
may indicate that some officers would engage in a regular fitness program if they were given an
incentive such as a paid fitness center membership or on-duty wellness time.
An example of on-duty wellness or fitness time would be a patrol squad of 8-10 police
officers being led by the patrol supervisor on a 1-2 mile jog/run prior to their actual duty shift.
This could be accomplished in less than 1 hour, and the squad could be on their regular patrol
duties after 1 hour. This 1-hour could be covered by command officers (lieutenants and captains,
for example) who do not have regular respond-to-call responsibilities. Different squads would
participate each day of the week on a rotational basis so that each squad on the shift participated
at least once each week. This wellness program would accomplish at least 2 objectives: (a)
squad members would get at least 1-hour-per-week of aerobic exercise, and (b) the squad would
participate in an event that could create esprit de corps among the squad and encourage squad
members to continue their wellness program off-duty. Competition could be encouraged among
squads for the least total time for the 1-2 mile run for an entire squad.
SPSS Correlation Results
The data from the 217 questionnaires were tabulated onto spreadsheets for the critical
variables listed earlier in the Methods section. These data were entered into SPSS version 12 for
linear regression and Pearson Correlation Coefficient 1-tailed.
Table 5 as indicated in Table 5 (Appendix A) shows that for the identified critical variables, the
linear regression standardized coefficients indicated that significance at the .01 level is achieved
only for aerobic exercise and weight and aerobic exercise and education. Because weight is
closely related to diet, linear regression was also determined for weight as an independent
variable and injured as a dependent variable.
The data in Table 6 as indicated in Table 6 (Appendix A) indicates significance at the .05
level between weight and injured. Comparing the significance of aerobic exercise and weight in
Table 5 (p=.011) and weight and injured in Table 6 (p=.05), there is an indirect correlation of
aerobic exercise with injury (aerobic exercise is related to weight and weight is related to injury).
Pearson R correlations were also determined for selected variables. Table 7 as indicated
in Table 7 (Appendix A) shows the results of the correlations of selected variables. The data in
Table 7 adds significantly to the findings in our study and presents findings that were not sought
in the four hypotheses. Table 7 indicates that Age and Years of Law Enforcement are highly
significant (p=or<.01) for 5 variables—Weight, Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise, Injured, and
Sick Leave.
Older officers and officers with more time on the job having more injuries are obviously
related. Although experience may be an important factor in officer efficiency on the job, it does
not appear to be a positive factor for injury and time lost as a result of injury leave time. Older
and more experienced officers appear to be more prone to injury and thus time lost due to injury
leave. This comports with weight in that heavier officers have more injuries than slimmer
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Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
officers. As officers age, they become more overweight and more susceptible to injury which
may result in more injury leave time. An interesting finding and trend was that officers who
were injured on duty initially took injury leave but subsequently took more sick leave. This may
indicate that injuries may reoccur and, when they do, officers may be taking sick leave to allow
healing to take place again. The authors want to emphasize that the foregoing discussion is not
an “assault” on older officers. On the contrary, it is meant only to direct attention to the need to
give more emphasis and resources toward fitness and diet for officer over the age of 50, for
example.
Diet
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, a healthy eating plan:

Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk
products

Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts

Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars

Stays within your daily calorie needs
Only 26.3% of the surveyed officers indicated that they maintained a strict diet of 2,500
calories per day for males and 2,200 calories per day for women. Clearly, some of the officers
who indicated that they worked out regularly did not maintain a strict diet. What might be the
explanation for officers who work out regularly not maintaining a strict diet? Having been
police officers, the authors know how difficult it is for officers to take time to relax and enjoy a
well-balanced meal while on duty. Too often meals are “fast-food” meals that have too much
saturated fat and calories and not enough nutrition. Another possibility may be that officers who
are working out regularly feel that exercise is sufficient to keep them fit and eventually they will
burn sufficient calories to reduce their body fat. Whatever the reasons, this will be a point of
discussion in the conclusions and recommendations section.
For the variable cigarettes (cigarette smoking), which is considered another negative
health factor, 216 officers responded to this question and only 10 indicated that they smoked
cigarettes—4.6%. This is considerably less than the 21% of all Americans over the age of 18
who smoke cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control (Centers for Disease Control,
2012). This is positive sign for health and wellness among police officers.
Limitations of the Study
Ideally this study would have surveyed more officers in more police departments in the
United States and globally. However, time and resources limited the sample to departments
within California where the authors had access to departments that were willing to participate
and to the Houston, Texas Police Department, which was the only city outside of California
which participated even though 9 other cities were asked to participate. By doing so, the
Houston Police Department contributed to the external validity of this study. Even with the
limitations, the authors believe that this study has both internal and external validity.
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Recommendations for Further Research
Future research should include more departments both in the United States and globally.
Ideally 500 or more surveys should be obtained. The best approach for future research would be
a multiple interrupted time-series design conducted longitudinally over several years with two
experimental groups: one a cohort of police officers who are actively involved in fitness; a
second cohort of, for example, construction workers who are actively involved in fitness, and
two control groups in each occupation of sedentary officers and construction workers. A
questionnaire similar to the authors’ could be given at the beginning, middle and end of the
longitudinal period. This could be done simultaneously in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa, for
example. The obviously limitation to this study would be the cost.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Recommendations
Even though the data did not support two of the three hypotheses, the finding that threequarters of the officers were not adhering to a strict diet and that being overweight contributed to
more injuries and time lost points to an issue that should be addressed more in police agencies.
In the Literature Review (see p. 7, para. 1, “A study of 380…), the authors cited the St.
Petersburg, Florida Police Department and their significant reduction of officer risk levels over a
5-year period through a combination of exercise and diet. Our study places emphasis again on
this important combination of exercise and diet. As noted earlier, it is difficult for officers to
maintain a healthy diet when working in the patrol division 24/7. However, officers generally
eat only one meal while on duty. Officers should be encouraged to eat a healthy meal just prior
to going on their shift and to maintain this diet as described above (Dietary Guidelines for
Americans, 2010) when off duty. Police and sheriff departments should contract with
nutritionists to plan healthy diets in conjunction with exercise for every officer on the
department. Officers should monitor their daily caloric intake just as they might keep track of
their exercise type and duration. Dietitians and fitness trainers can be police officer’s best
friends off-duty, but departments must be willing to budget for these.
If budgetary constraints prevent hiring dietitians and fitness trainers, there are other
alternatives to at least make police officers aware of the importance of proper diet and exercise.
One option is to have at least one required in-service training session per year devoted to a
presentation of nutrition. This could be done very inexpensively by showing a training film on
preparing healthy meals at home; choosing low calorie/low cholesterol foods when eating during
one’s shift; and urging supervisors and command officers to set the example by also eating
healthy and maintaining their weight in proportion to height and weight. The same can be done
with a training film featuring a skilled trainer who demonstrates how officers can maintain an
excellent level of fitness in no more than 5-6 hours per week.
Other recommendations are for departments to budget for private gymnasium
memberships for officers or build fitness stations within an area of the police department. This is
supported by the data in Table 4 in which almost 96% of the surveyed officers felt that fitness
was either extremely or very important; however, only 53.45% actually engaged in a regular
fitness program. Perhaps a significant number of the remaining 42% would become actively
engaged in fitness, if there were more incentive. Finally, departments can offer incentives, such
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as additional vacation days, for officers who pass a rigorous wellness test. Less emphasis should
be placed on sanctions, such as policies that allow the firing of unfit officers who struggle to or
cannot perform essential duties required of policing. Nevertheless, firing officers should not be
ruled out, rather it should be a last resort when other measures, such as refusal to participate in a
wellness program when offered as an alternative to firing.
Finally, unfit officers who use excessive force to compensate for their inability to use
simple, physical restraining methods, such as “empty-hand submission techniques” (any use of
force to subdue a resisting arrestee that does not involve a weapon such as a baton, mace, taser,
or firearm, for example), or who cause other officers to be injured because they cannot render
adequate assistance may potentially be exposed to legal liability for resulting injuries. Vicarious
liability can also extend to the officer’s agency. Therefore, fitness and wellness are just as
important as any other required, documented training that agencies are required to conduct in
order to blunt potential and costly law suits resulting from use of excessive force.
CONCLUSIONS
Research Hypotheses
For hypothesis 1, although there were no data to support a direct correlation between an
aerobic and/or anaerobic fitness regimen of 5+ hours per week and a reduction of on-duty
injuries, there was indirect support for this hypothesis. There was a correlation between aerobic
exercise and weight (p=.011, see Table 5). The more aerobic exercise an officer engaged in, the
less he or she weighed. Overweight officers were more likely to be injured than officers who
were not overweight, and both aerobic and anaerobic exercise can significantly reduce weight
when combined with a balanced diet of 2,500 calories per day for active males and 2,200 for
active females.
For hypothesis 2, there is also indirect data to support a correlation between diet and
injury. There was a correlation between injury and weight (p=.023, Table 6). Heavier officers
incurred more injuries than officers whose weight was in balance with height and age. . For
hypothesis 3, there were no data to support a correlation between an aerobic and/or anaerobic
fitness program and fewer hours of time lost (injury leave + sick leave) from duty.
Police officer fitness, page 12
Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
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Police officer fitness, page 14
Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
APPENDIX A
Table 1—Questionnaires Returned by Department
Participating Police Agencies
No of Officers
Percentage
Sacramento PD
41
18.89
Sacramento SD
31
14.29
LAPD
23
10.60
San Diego PD
4
1.80
San Diego SD
28
12.90
Houston PD
44
20.28
National City PD
21
9.68
Chula Vista PD
25
11.52
Totals
217
100.00
Agency Size
Medium
Medium
Large
Large
Large
Large
Small
Small
Table 2—Participating Officer Mean Education, Height, Weight, Weekly Hours of
Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise, and Body Fat
Variable
Mean
Standard Deviation
Education
14.93 years
1.94 years
Height
Males
70.14 inches
2.54 inches
Females
65.30 inches
3.12 inches
Weight
Males
202.66 pounds
29.14 pounds
Females
139.50 pounds
26.44 pounds
Aerobic
2.59 hours/week
2.3 hours/week
Anaerobic
2.00 hours/week
1.98 hours/week
*Body fat
19.5 percent
4.899 percent
Years Law Enforcement
14.23 years
*Body fat was determined by self-report. On the questionnaire, the responding officers were told
to answer this question only if they knew their body fat composition.
Table 3—Aerobic, Anaerobic, or Combination of Both for 5 Plus Hours/Week, Officers
Indicating Injury, Diet, and Agency Provided Fitness Center Memberships
Yes/Percentage
No/Percentage
Fitness Program of 5+
116/53.45
101/46.55
hours per week
Injured on Duty
71/32.7
146/67.3
Diet
57/26.3
157/73.4
Agency Provided Fitness
90/41%
127/59
Center Membership
Police officer fitness, page 15
Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
Table 4—Police Officer Rating of Importance of Fitness
Police Officer Rating of Importance of Fitness
Extremely Important
150
Very Important
58
Less than Very Important
9
69.12%
26.72%
4.14%
Table 5—Linear Regression Results of Independent Variables—Aerobic and Anaerobic
Exercise, and Diet compared with Dependent Variables—Injured, Times Injured, Injury
Seriousness, Sick Leave, Time Lost, Weight and Education
Independent Variables
Aerobic Exercise
Anaerobic Exercise
Diet
Standardized
Standardized
Standardized
Coefficients
Coefficients
Coefficients
Dependent Beta
t
sig
Beta
t
sig
Beta
t
sig
Variables
-.006 -.073
.942
-.025 -.331
.741
.035
.492
.623
Injured
Times
.105
1.142
.255
.003
.029
.977
-.026
-.284
.777
Injured
Injury
.154
1.689
.094
-.028 -.321
.756
-.060
-.688
.505
Seriousnes
s
Sick
-.043 -.544
.587
-.029 -.037
.712
-.014
-.189
.850
Leave
Time Lost -.053 -.689
.492
-.021 -.160
.873
.001
.020
.984
Weight
-.174
-2.562
**
.011
Education .199
2.964
**
.003
**p=significance at the .01 level
.020
.270
.787
.125
1.753
.081
.002
.025
.980
-.006
-.093
.926
Table 6—Linear Regression Results of Weight compared with Injured on Duty
Independent Variable Weight
Unstandardized
Standardized
Coefficients
Coefficients
Dependent
Variable
B
Std. Error
Beta
t
Injured
.002
*p= significance at the .05 level
.001
.155
2.286
Sig.
*.023
Police officer fitness, page 16
Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business
Table 7—Pearson R Correlations Among Variables Indicating Significance
Weight
Aerobic
Anaerobic
Injured
Sick Leave
Exercise
Exercise
Age
r=.256**
r=-.152**
r=-.163**
r=.178**
r=-.197**
p=.000**
p=.013**
p=.008**
p=.004**
p=.002**
Years Law
r=.239**
r=-.213**
r=-.184**
r=.199**
r=-.197**
Enforcement p=.000**
p=.001**
p=.003**
p=.002**
p=.002**
p*=correlation at the .05 level
p**=correlation at the .01 level
Police officer fitness, page 17